Canadian Grosso loving life with Juventus

Just 22, Julia Grosso has settled nicely in Italy.

Since signing with Juventus in December, the midfielder from Vancouver has added the Serie A, Coppa Italia and Supercoppa titles to her Olympic gold medal with Canada.

“I feel like it's just been exciting times. It's always a lot going on but I love it,” Grosso said of her recent soccer whirlwind. “It's been really good.”

Grosso, who famously scored the gold-medal winning goal for Canada on a penalty kick against Sweden at the Tokyo Olympics last year, and Juve turn their attention to Denmark's HB Koge on Tuesday in UEFA Women's Champions League play. The second leg goes Sept. 28 at Juventus. The 12 second-qualifying-round series winners join defending champion Lyon and fellow direct entrants Barcelona, Chelsea and Wolfsburg in the group stage that starts in October.

Juventus reached the quarterfinals of the 2021-22 competition, losing 4-3 to Lyon in the twolegged affair in March.

Grosso started against the French powerhouse, helping Juve to a 2-1 home win in the opening leg which marked only Lyon's third loss in its previous 41 Champions League matches (35-3-3). The Canadian was among the substitutes for the second leg in France, won 3-1 by Lyon. Juventus comes into Tuesday's game on the back of a 1-0 league win over visiting Roma on Friday with Grosso coming in off the bench in the 76th minute.

“Probably our biggest competitor in the league,” Grosso said of Roma, which finished as the runner-up to Juventus last season.

Juve (2-0-1) sits fourth in the Women's Serie A with Fiorentina and Sampdoria sporting perfect 3-0-0 records atop the standings.

Grosso was 13 when she made her debut in the Canadian youth program in 2014 with coach Bev Priestman, who is now in charge of the senior squad.

She went on to represent Canada at the under-15, U-17 and U-20 level, including at the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in 2016 in Jordan.